brave

Brave New Band, led by Chris Helman, soprano saxophone, and Nicole Arendt, marimba is an ensemble of dynamic musicians performing original, genre-bending music. Their compelling performances bridge the gap between classical and jazz, layering carefully crafted through-composed music and free improvisation over the edgy and danceable support of an alternative rhythm section. Their gorgeous, haunting melodies and crystalline purity of sound create an exciting fusion of classical virtuosity and world-jazz drive. Audiences love their music, describing it as, “stunningly beautiful - radiating sonic joy” and, “incredible, feel-it-in-your-solar-plexus beautiful”. Influenced by Steve Reich, Jan Garbarek, modern classical music, and all the best rock bands, Brave New Band is committed to exploring and extending the dramatic and emotional power of live acoustic music.

Chris Helman, soprano saxophone, and Nicole Arendt, marimba, have been performing together - and apart - for over 25 years. Helman was the first classical saxophonist to attend the prestigious Banff Centre for the Arts, after a Bachelor of Music program at the University of Alberta. He has performed in musical theatre shows and jazz combos across Canada, as part of the DuMaurier International Jazz Festival, and in Cuba and Guyana. Arendt completed a Bachelor of Music, Honours, in Percussion Performance at the University of Alberta, earned a Master of Music degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Victoria, is currently the Principal Timpanist of the Vancouver Island Symphony, and has performed in a myriad of settings, including drummer in an all-girl original rock band, Baroque Timpanist in BC early music ensembles, percussionist in orchestras in Canada and Asia, and chamber musician in contemporary music and dance performances. Nicole is also a certified Iyengar yoga teacher and loves how this supports her work as a professional musician.

In the summer of 2022 Brave New Band was thrilled to return to live concerts, and were presented by The Fort Langley Jazz Festival, the Vancouver Island Symphony, and the Port Theatre as part of its Discovery Series. When live performances were not possible during the Covid-19 pandemic, they were featured as part of the Red Chamber Cultural Society’s Innovations Fall Moon livestream concert series and, with the support of “pivot” grants through the City of Nanaimo and the BC Arts Council, studied video production and produced their own music videos and short films. In addition to physically writing down music for performance, over the past decade they have developed an improvisation practice and have captured hundreds of hours of audio and several hours of audio and video recordings of purely improvised music.